Colossians; I & II Thessalonians; I & II Timothy

Today is another beautiful Sunday morning.  I don't know what to expect today, but I'm sure of a few things:  God's Word will be preached and taught; God's people will love God and each other; Fellowship will be taking place; Christ honoring music will be sung by the choir, special groups, and the congregation; Adults will lovingly teach children the Bible; People will be saved and decision made for Christ!  For all of these reasons I'm always excited about Church!!  I hope you are excited about where you go to church as well.  Here are a few thoughts from God's Word: 1) SEEK, SET, SUICIDE--  Maybe those three words don't sound like they go together, but let me explain what I noticed in Colossians 3:1-5.  We are to "SEEK those things which are above".  Seek means we are constantly looking for things that are from above.  Church is from above... love is from above.... caring for others is from above... singing God's praises is from above, etc.  The idea is that we are to spend our lives seeking that which pleases God and is from above!  Then we are to "SET your affection on things above".  Once we have sought out the "things which are above", we are then to "set" our affections upon those things.... fall in love with them!!  Do you love church?  Do you love Christians?  Do you love to sing God's praises?  We are to love those things we have sought out!!  Then we are to "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth;"  Mortify means to put to death and since these things abide in us, we are called upon to commit SUICIDE to our own fleshly desires and fallen nature.  This is a constant battle, but a battle it must continue to be!  Never let us, if you fail then get right back up and serve the Lord after you have gotten right with the Lord.  Three Words to direct our lives as Christians!! 2) TREATMENT OF GOD'S MEN- I Thess. 5:12,13 says: "And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake.  And be at peace among yourselves."  WE are to KNOW them... (get to know them well enough to know how to help them carry their load, lighten their load, be a blessing to God's men.)  WE are to ESTEEM them very highly because they are God's gift to us (Eph. 4) and they are working for God.  They are God's men trying their best to faithfully live, preach, and teach God's Word to others!  Let your Pastor know you appreciate him and you will have been a blessing to God's man... you will be "esteeming them very highly." 3) WITHDRAW YOURSELVES- We are commanded so often in the Bible to "Love one another" and to fellowship with each other, so it seems odd that we are told to "withdraw" ourselves from a believer, but IF that believer "walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us."  (II Thess. 3:6)  We are to "withdraw" ourselves because it could contaminate us, and secondly it would look like we endorse their behavior that is against the teaching of Scriptures.  So, when someone errs and walks a different path... let them get another set of friends... not the same ones that keep walking with the LORD!!  This is the clear teaching of God's Word.  II Thess. 3:14 says: "And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed." 4) PILLAR AND GROUND- I Tim. 3:15 says that the "house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."  The Church of the Lord is the "pillar and ground of the truth".  A pillar holds up something, and the ground is a foundation for something.  Jesus is the founder and the foundation of the Church, but Paul also teaches that we are built upon this foundation of Jesus Christ.  We are pillars in the church... we hold the truth of Christ when we preach, teach, and live it.  We are pillars when we hold up the church which Christ founded and died to established.  We are not to be partitions, we are to be pillars... lasting, strong, enduring, holding up the weight of the church of Christ and for others!!  Are you a pillar in your church?  I hope you are, that is God's will for our lives as believers!!  Well, I'm looking for a great day at church... Hope to see some of you there!!  May God bless you today where ever you are!!  Dr. Mike Mutchler